


have yourself a merry little candlenights

by cryptidcountry



Category: The Adventure Zone (Podcast)
Genre: Gen, The Adventure Zone: Balance, and celebrating candlenights together, its a candlenights fic!, just the crew being family, product of my extreme teenz secret santa gift exchange
Language: English
Status: Completed
Published: 2019-12-26
Updated: 2019-12-26
Packaged: 2021-02-26 05:27:29
Rating: General Audiences
Warnings: No Archive Warnings Apply
Chapters: 1
Words: 2,167
Publisher: archiveofourown.org
Story URL: https://archiveofourown.org/works/21978061
Author URL: https://archiveofourown.org/users/cryptidcountry/pseuds/cryptidcountry
Summary: the crew spends candlenights together on the starblaster(a happy domestic little fic about candlenights from magnus's point of view)
Comments: 3
Kudos: 17





	have yourself a merry little candlenights

**Author's Note:**

> this is for wyatt, whose name i'm so happy i drew for our taz gc secret candlenights exchange because it led me to write this! happy candlenights, wyatt, i hope you enjoy :)

When Magnus stirs at the crack of dawn on Candlenights morning, it isn’t at his own volition. It’s because something is lightly tickling his face and he can ignore it no longer.

Blinking his eyes open, he’s immediately confronted with the sight of a maniacally grinning Lup bent over him, the end of her braid brushing against his cheek. Before he can even think to jump in alarm, she’s gasping and yelling, “You’re awake!” yanking him by the arms into a sitting position. And before he can rub his ears at her volume, she’s clambering over him and enveloping him in a fierce hug.

“Happy Candlenights, Magnus,” Lup says, squeezing him so tightly he can barely breathe, but it makes Magnus feel so warm and happy that he almost entirely forgets how tired he is, and how Lup’s knee is digging into his thigh in a way that is lightyears away from being anything close to comfortable.

When they pull away, he beams at her in return. “Happy Candlenights, Lup!”

He tries to shift her into a less painful position on his legs as subtly as possible, but at the first nudge against her hip she is catapulting herself off the bed, grabbing one of his hands and leaning all her weight back, effectively dragging him out of bed. Not expecting the change of location, he fumbles in his blankets and drops to the ground with a crash, knocking down the contents of his bedside table as he thrashes around.

On the floor, groaning as Lup cackles, he catches sight of the clock fallen beside him. 6:15 AM. As a kid, Magnus was always the first to wake on Candlenights, barreling into his parents’ room to jump on the bed and demand that they get up get up get _up!_ But even baby Magnus would only ever rush into the hallway once the sun had already risen, the light beams filtering into the window his quiet signal that it was time to see what the Star King had left them.

Looking out of the porthole, he sees the sky is the pale grey-green they’ve come to learn in this cycle to mean that the sun is still just beneath the horizon. He’s only ever seen the sky like this in the first week here, when all hands were on deck around the clock without rest to find The Light.

“Jesus _fuck,_ Lup. It’s so _early_ ,” he laments, burying himself down into his blankets and choosing to steadfastly ignore the pair of shoes he’d landed on that are digging into his back in favor of trying to get back to sleep for a little while longer.

Before he can ask for five more minutes, he is being poked and prodded at, Lup indignantly demanding he wake up. “Get your ass up, big guy. I let you all sleep in for so long! And it’s _CANDLENIGHTS!”_

“How do you know what counts as sleeping in? You’re an elf! You don’t sleep!”

Lup toes the edge of the blanket off Magnus’s face and when they lock eyes, she holds up her hand to show a small orb of water floating lazily in her palm. “Mags. Do _not_ make me use this.”

He follows her out of the room without further protest.

\---

As Magnus stumbles down the hallway attempting to rub the exhaustion from his eyes, he bumps into Lucretia. She smiles sleepily at him, eyes only half-open. Lucretia is often the first to rise of the seven of them, but even she doesn’t usually start her day until around 7:30.

She leans into his side for a moment, exchanging happy Candlenights with him.

As they walk with Lup to the kitchen, they pass the open bathroom door, where Magnus pauses for a moment to watch Merle towel off his wet hair.

When Merle catches sight of him in the mirror, he smiles cheerily, simply saying, “Lup. I was taking too long to get up.” Magnus snorts in response.

\---

The kitchen is bursting with noise. Davenport makes coffee while Taako loudly demands that he stop making coffee so that Taako can access the full counter space for breakfast preparations. Barry sits at the table in his pajamas, polishing silverware and laughing at the squabbling before him. When she sees them, Lup rushes over to Taako to join in hassling Davenport— who openly pretends that he flat out doesn’t notice them— only pausing her frantic beeline for just a moment to stop next to Barry and run a hand through his hair, telling him he’s doing a wonderful job at his assigned task. Barry blushes after her and Magnus flops into the chair next to him, patting him on the back and avoiding the smack he tries to send to his arm when Magnus wishes him a, “ _wonderful_ Candlenights, Barry” with a wink.

Davenport successfully escapes the twins, moving the pot of coffee to the table he joins Magnus and Barry to sit at. Taako turns to face all of them. “Merry Candlenights and all that good stuff. My gifts to all of you are these fantasy Eggs Benedicts Lup and I are about to _crush_ but just know that if any of you get in our way, I _will_ feed your breakfast to Fisher.”

Merle wanders into the kitchen at the tail-end of the threat, musing, “Wouldn’t that be more of a problem for you than us in the long run?”

In response, Taako aims an open palm with an orb of water floating before it at Merle, only relenting when Merle flips his hands up in surrender, turning around and scurrying right back out of the kitchen.

Once everything settles down, Magnus sits at the table, leg bouncing absentmindedly, and watches Lup and Taako as they begin cooking.

Lup and Taako work together in a dance that looks choreographed for how seamlessly they maneuver around one another. When Taako spills Hollandaise sauce on the stove, Lup slides up beside him with a cleaning rag before he even makes a sound. When Lup pulls bread from the oven, Taako is pushing a cooling rack onto the counter before she even straightens up. Taako holds up a spoon of sauce for Lup to try and he doesn’t finish asking, “Does it need—,” when she’s already nodding and saying, “More butter, yeah. And then it’ll be perfect.”

Magnus watches them and wonders what it must be like to be so close to someone that you can predict their needs without a word— before they’re even aware of them, even.

He’s distracted from his thoughts when Lucretia slumps into the chair next to him with a mug cradled into her hands, reaching for the coffee pot. Magnus passes her the sugar before she can ask. Later, Merle rejoins them, holding out two pieces of buttered toast to the each of them, and Magnus and Lucretia laugh as they suddenly realize for the first time how hungry they’ve been while waiting for breakfast.

\---

After they’ve all finished breakfast— and finishing emphatically delivering their compliments directly to the chefs— Merle eagerly ushers everyone into the living room, winking suggestively as he says, “Why don’t we go see if the Star King left us any presents, hmm? Have you all been your _best_ this year?”

Magnus catches Lucretia blanching as she exchanges a wary look with Lup, and he feels a shudder of his own thinking about the odd— and usually odd-smelling— gifts Merle has presented them with over the various cycles.

They go in a circle opening his gifts, Lucretia going first and pulling out three jagged pieces of hollowed coral from the box labelled for her. She fumbles her way through an, “Oh! This is…uh…just what I was hoping for!” before Merle explains they’re meant to function as cups to go with the sand dollar coasters he had gifted her during their previous beach cycle.

Barry and Davenport both get bags full of shells. They wait for further explanation and are given none. Barry cuts his hand reaching in to pull one out.

When it’s Taako’s turn, he fixes Merle with an uneasy glare, but Merle just smiles serenely back at him. “Taako… This year for Candlenights, I got you…Nothing!”

Taako collapses against the couch with relief, and Magnus swears he sees him shed a few happy tears.

When it’s his turn to open a gift, Magnus receives a smooth hunk of wood so large that Barry has to help Merle move— or rather, move _for_ Merle— out into the open.

“This planet has had the most beautiful trees I’ve seen across cycles,” Merle tells him, detailing how he had bought it from a woodworker in town with the idea that Magnus could use it to practice his carvings. Magnus pointedly ignores the way Merle’s eyes glaze over slightly as he reminisces on the loveliness of the trees because it’s such a sweet gift that it can’t be spoiled by disgust, and all he can think to do is launch himself at Merle, sweeping him into a hug and promising him the first duck from the block.

Lup gets a dead fish that Merle calls a pencil pouch. She thanks him enthusiastically before excusing herself with it, returning barely a minute later from the kitchen, holding a plate and asking if anyone would be interested in a seafood snack.

\---

The night settles in beautifully, frost fogging up the windows and the sky darkening into a rich forest green. The crew lounge around in the living room, feeling celebratory and sociable in the warm glow of the Candlenights lights strung about. Lucretia makes homemade eggnog for everyone, the whole ship smelling like cinnamon and nutmeg because of it, and Magnus chants “Spike it! Spike it! Spike it!” with Merle and Lup until she relents and upends have a bottle of rum into the pot that Davenport had been “saving for a special occasion” but graciously lets them use, and they all recognize in his smile that he feels the day they’re having fits that bill. Lucretia is on her third glass. Each time she takes a sip, a layer of cream settles on her upper lip and it’s funny and endearing and no one offers her a napkin. She regales them with stories from her journals, giving them the gift of re-living their favorite memories together as they all listen from under piles of blankets to fend away the chill in the air.

Later, the sky turned black from the late hour, when Merle drifts too close to the sparkling Candlenights bush for comfort, Taako intercepts by grabbing him by the shoulders and firmly turning him around, asking Barry if he would be willing to play music for them to listen to.

Barry sits at the piano and when he begins, magic fills the room, music coming from his fingers like a soft hand against a cheek with its gentle beauty. He plays classic children’s Candlenights song, and they all sing along loudly and off-key, laughing into the lyrics.

After a while, the music becomes more sentimental, songs about love and togetherness and Barry gets a happy faraway look in his eyes. Merle heaves himself off the couch and turns to Taako, holding out hand and asking dramatically, “My good sir… May I have this dance?” Taako rolls his eyes grandly but accepts, replying, “Whatever keeps you away from the Candlenights bush, my man.”

Davenport watches them for a moment before rising himself, crossing to the piano and sitting beside Barry. He begins to play alongside him and when Barry looks over, he nudges him with his foot. “Let me take over. You go dance.”

Barry leaves his seat with red cheeks, and it is with the same red cheeks that he offers a hand to Lup, pulling her close and swaying with her as Taako spins Merle in circles in the air around them.

Lucretia wanders over to Davenport, the rum settling in her system in a way that when he plays a song she knows the words to, she sings along without reservation, her voice strong and deep and so beautiful that Davenport plays it twice in a row.

Magnus sits in the arm chair and just watches his family. He feels so warm and it’s not from the pile of blankets he got covered in when Lup flung them off herself in her hurry to accept Barry’s request. For the first time in a long time, he feels no need to rush in and participate. If he were up and dancing or singing or refilling everyone’s drinks, he would miss the way Taako’s smile has softened the longer he’s been dancing, or the way Davenport leans his head against Lucretia’s arm as they sing together, or the way Lup stands on Barry’s toes and lets him lead their movements around the room. No, Magnus doesn’t rush in. He just sits and watches and loves and loves and loves.

**Author's Note:**

> just to note: the planet the crew is on in this fic is definitely non-canonical and just one i made up! it has both forest and beach on it! also eggs benedict is a tradition my family and i do christmas morning so thank you taaco twins for always letting me project myself onto y'all :) happy candlenights everyone!!!!!


End file.
